The Olympic Order is the highest award of the Olympic Movement and is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worth of merit in the cause of sport. It was established in May 1975 by the International Olympic Committee as a successor to the Olympic Certificate. The Olympic Order originally had three grades (gold, silver and bronze), although the bronze grade fell dormant in 1984. Traditionally, the IOC bestows the Olympic Order upon the chief national organiser(s) at the closing ceremony of each respective Olympic Games.

The following is a list of recipients of the Olympic Order.

1976: Paul Anspach (Bronze), Jesse Owens, Antonio dos Reis Carneiro (Bronze)

1979: Marcel Leclef (Bronze)

1980: Almicare Rotta

1981: Herbert Kunze

1982: Pope John Paul II (Gold), Károly Kárpáti, Elena Mukhina

1983: Ulrich Wehling, Galina Kulakova, Manfred Ewald, Aleksandr Medved, Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Indira Gandhi, Branko Mikulić (Gold), Nadia Comăneci

1984: Peter Ueberroth, Giancarlo Brusati, Milan Ercegan, Primo Nebiolo, Günther Sabetzki, Horst Dassler, Helene Ahrweiler

1985: Erich Honecker, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Günther Sabetzki, Toni Sailer, Hanji Aoki, Borislav Stanković (second in 2005), King Juan Carlos I of Spain

1987: Leon Štukelj, King Rama IX of Thailand (Gold), Kenan Evren (Gold), John Brown, Alberto Juantorena, Jean-Claude Killy, Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak, Rudolf Hellmann

1988: Manfred von Brauchitsch, Katarina Witt, Frank King (Gold), Ralph Klein, Reiner Klimke, Jerzy Kukuczka (Silver), Prince Rainier III of Monaco (Gold), Antonio Mariscal, Josef Neckermann, Jasdev Singh, Taieb Houichi, Ante Lambasa, Wolf Lyberg, Frederick Ruegsegger, Aladár Gerevich, Mustapha Larfaoui, Arne B. Mollén

1989: Larisa Latynina

1990: Giulio Andreotti (Gold), Lee Kun-hee, Jonathan Janson, Rudolf Kárpáti, Reizo Koike, Naoto Tajima, Ivan Patzaichin, Lamine Diack, Arnoldo Devonish

1992: Ludovit Komadel (Silver), Jesús Alfonso Elizondo Nájera (Silver), Pasqual Maragall

1993: Willi Daume, Jacques Blanc, Anna Sinilkina, Ted Stevens, Jordi Pujol i Soley, Dražen Petrović (posthumously awarded), Boris Yeltsin (Gold)

1994: Gerhard Heiberg, Richard von Weizsäcker (Nr. 43), Nelson Mandela

1995: Miguel Indurain, Jerald M. Jordan (Silver)

1996: Billy Payne

1997: Chris de Broglio, Hendrika Mastenbroek, Roy Jones Jr.(vs Park Si Hun 1988 Olympic)

1998: Frédy Girardet, Chung Ju-yung, Erica Terpstra, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg

1999: Alexander Tikhonov, Steffi Graf, Antonio Spallino, Bertrand Piccard, Brian Jones

2000: Res Brügger, Alberto Tomba, David Coleman, Adolf Ogi (Gold), John Coates (Gold), Alida van den Bos

2001: See list below

2002: Mitt Romney, Peter Blake (Posthumously awarded), Shirley de la Hunty (Strickland), Wayne Gretzky, Miroslav Šubrt, Walter Bush Jr., Shoichi Tomita, Flor Isava-Fonseca, Ashwini Kumar, David Wallechinsky

2003: John Williams, Adolf Ogi, Jean Durry

2004: Matthias Kleinert, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Francoise Zweifel, Johannes Rau (Gold), Nadia Comăneci

2005: Shirley Babashoff

2006: Hans Wilhelm Gäb, Valentino Castellani

2008: Liu Qi (Gold), He Zhenliang, Liu Jingmin, Deng Pufang, Chen Zhili

2009: Thor Nilsen

2010: S R Nathan (Gold), Lee Hsien Loong (Gold), Jack Poole (Gold; posthumously awarded), John Furlong (Gold), Ng Eng Hen, Teo Chee Hean, Vivian Balakrishnan

2011: Fernando Lima Bello, Kip Keino, Vilnis Baltiņš

2012: Eiichi Kawatei, David Stern, Sebastian Coe

2013: King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (Gold), Jacques Rogge (Gold), King Felipe VI of Spain (Gold), Pope Francis (Gold)

Year unknown: Manfred Germar, Klaus Kotter.

2001

Albert Scharf (at the IOC headquarters, Lausanne, January 8, 2001)

Enrique Sanz (at the IOC headquarters, Lausanne, June 8, 2001)

Sports executives, at the 12th IOC Session, Moscow, July 12, 2001:

Richard Bunn, Great Britain

René Burkhalter, Switzerland

Arnold Green, Estonia

Félix Savón, Cuba

Eric Walter, Switzerland, sports journalist, former member of the IOC Press Commission and IOC Radio and Television Commission.

Athletes, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, July 21, 2001:

Myriam Bédard (biathlon), Canada

David Douillet (judo), France

Krisztina Egerszegi (swimming), Hungary

Cathy Freeman (athletics), Australia

Kazuyoshi Funaki (ski jumping), Japan

Alexander Karelin (wrestling), Russia

Marco Marin (fencing), Italy

Haile Gebrselassie (athletics), Ethiopia

Naim Süleymanoğlu (weightlifting), Turkey

Pirmin Zurbriggen (alpine skiing), Switzerland

Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch also received the Olympic Order (Gold grade), at the 112th IOC Session at Moscow.

Australian recipients

John Brown AO

John D. Coates AC (Gold)

Betty Cuthbert AM MBE

John Devitt AM

Herb Elliott AC MBE

Robert Elphinston OAM

Michael Eyers AM

John Fitzgerald AM

Shane Gould MBE

Dawn Fraser AO MBE

Cathy Freeman OAM

Harry Gordon CMG AM

Sydney Grange AO OBE MVO (Deceased)

Geoffrey Henke AO

Di Henry OAM

Sandy Hollway AO

The Hon John Howard OM AC SSI (Gold)

Stephan Kerkyasharian AM

The Hon Michael Knight AO (Gold)

Bob Leece AM

Margaret McLennan

Norman May OAM

Peter Montgomery OAM

Mick O'Brien AM

Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue AO CBE

Julius Patching AO OBE

William Berge Phillips OBE (Deceased)

David Richmond AO (Gold)

Jim Sloman OAM

Shirley de la Hunty (Strickland) AO MBE (Deceased)

Brian Tobin AM

Indian recipients

Mool Chand Chowhan

Indira Gandhi

Jasdev Singh

Singaporean recipients

S R Nathan (Gold)

Lee Hsien Loong (Gold)

Teo Chee Hean (Silver)

Vivian Balakrishnan (Silver)

Ng Eng Hen (Silver)

Tan Eng Liang (Silver)

Chris Chan (Silver)

Goh Kee Nguan (Silver)

Francis Chong (Silver)

Eric Tan Huck Gim (Silver)

British recipients

Sebastian Coe (Gold)

Paul Deighton (Gold)

Doug Arnot (Silver - American, given for services to London 2012)

James Bulley (Silver)

Richard George (Silver)

Debbie Jevans (Silver)

Ian Johnston (Silver)

Keith Mills (Silver)

Colin Moynihan (Silver)

Gerry Pennell (Silver)

Jean Tomlin (Silver)

David Coleman (Silver??)